Here are two, great putting drills that will help with both speed and also reading the break of the green.

Always start with a good look from behind the ball.

No matter what type of shot you have, you should always have a good pre-shot routine, which consists of looking from behind the ball and visualizing your shot.  When we are putting, it’s especially important to look from behind the ball to read the green or break.

Try and visualize if the ball will turn or go straight. Imagine if you were to throw a bucket of water on the green, ask yourself which way the water would run?  Then always play it to the higher side of the cup, so the ball will run, downhill.

Then, determine the speed by asking yourself, will the putt be going uphill, downhill, or flat.  Once you have your line, no more guessing or questioning yourself, it’s time to focus on speed.

  1. The Spoke Drill
    Will give you the ability to practice 4 different putts.  Uphill, downhill, left to right and right to left.  I recommend practicing these from 4 feet away. Putting a tee in the green and placing the ball at 4 feet away.
  2. Ladder Drill
    Is excellent for working on a variety of distances.  Here I recommend 3, 6, 9 and 12 feet, placing a tee in the green at each distance.  This drill can also be used as though you are doing the spoke drill to work on both break and speeds.